Global Bio-Med Conference Comes to Israel

Leading international bio-medical experts will be presenting their findings at a conference in Jerusalem, with an eye toward personalized cures.

By Malkah Fleisher

First Publish: 5/1/2010, 10:40 PM / Last Update: 5/1/2010, 10:35 PM

Israel news file (photo)

Some of the world's leading experts in bio-medicine are arriving in Israel for an annual conference entitled "The Frontiers of Bio-Medical Research", conducted for the first time in the Jewish State.

Nine ground-breaking bio-medical researchers will be the heart of the international symposium, which will take place May 2 and 3 at the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Jerusalem, marking the 50th anniversary of the Israel Academy.

Personalized medicine will be the focus of the conference, with researchers presenting findings on cancer, infectious diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, and treatments designed around the patient's personal genetic information.

According to a press release issued by the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, personalized medicine has become necessary as patients with the same illnesses experience different responses to treatments and different outcomes. Scientists have concluded that genetics are responsible, and are therefore focusing on specifically tailoring treatments in the hopes that more effective cures will be found, as well as information about what really causes – or prevents – diseases in certain people.

Included among the esteemed presenters at the conference are:• Professor Eric S. Lander, human genome expert and President and Director of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, • Professor Mary-Claire King of the University of Washington, human genetics expert who discovered breast cancer genes, • Professor Ada Yonath, chemist and crystallographer whose pioneering work on the ribosome earned her distinction as Israel's first female Nobel Prize winner• Professor Axel Ulrich, German biologist and anti-cancer drug developer who has been named one of the top-ten most important living scientists